


if it helps yours beat

by quantumoddity



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Caleb is a sad space wizard, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Inspired by Ponyo (2008), Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Molly is basically the moonweaver, Pining, Ponyo AU, They have star babies, Trans Mollymauk Tealeaf, thats all you need to know really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:01:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23278264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quantumoddity/pseuds/quantumoddity
Summary: No one likes mornings
Relationships: Mollymauk Tealeaf/Caleb Widogast
Comments: 4
Kudos: 76





	if it helps yours beat

Caleb had come to dread the mornings. The gentle warmth prickling his skin, coming in through the bubble like airship windows he’d taken from a decommissioned submarine. Not yet the honey golden light of true sunrise, just the pale blue of the hour just before the world was truly awake. Still, when he opened his heavy, bruise shadowed eyes and saw it, he felt his heart sink. 

And, true enough, a second later came the warm hand on his shoulder, the voice gentle and sorrowful, “I must go, my love. Until next cycle…”

Caleb wanted to close his eyes again and pretend he hadn’t heard those words. He wanted to cling to his husband and beg him not to go, like a child thinking he could change the course of nature if he stamped his foot hard enough. He wanted to weep at the unfairness of it all, curse the heart that made him love who he loved. 

But he did none of those things. He sat up, silky blankets falling away from his naked body but he didn’t yank them back into place. Not in front of Molly. His husband looked beautiful, ethereal, purple skin glowing softly in the shifting dark. Every one of his tattoos was picked out in starlight, constellations that rolled and moved across him as if Caleb was a planet, looking up at him from below. 

Caleb wanted to pull Mollymauk back into bed, kiss every one of those points of light, chase them across his thighs until his lips and tongue glowed. He wanted to glory again in the fact that someone as powerful and beautiful as Mollymauk actually wanted him. 

Instead, he kissed his lips, lightly and sweetly as he could, “I know, mein Mondlicht. Until next time.” 

Molly gave a forlorn sigh, like he was wrestling with the same pointless desires as Caleb, “Who knows? Maybe this time we made another star…”

Caleb had to smile, “I would like that. I know Trinket would love that.” 

Molly laughed softly, though there was a brief flash of sorrow in it, “Trinket...I won’t wake him. Tell him I said goodbye?”

“I will,” Caleb promised, leaning in and kissing his cheek, knowing what Mollymauk needed to hear but also knowing how much it would hurt to say it, “You should go, mein Mondlicht, the sun is rising.”

Molly nodded, the jewellery in his horns ringing softly. Already he was glowing brighter, the white moonlight threatening to swallow his shape entirely, “I love you. Look for me?”

“Every night,” Caleb murmured, turning away as Molly’s form blurred. He never could bear to watch him leave. 

He pulled the blankets over his head but he knew it was pointless. He wasn’t going to get back to sleep, not now. Not with the room now so cold and dark without Molly, even with the sun rising.

Caleb got up with a sigh, just putting on a robe for now before walking out into the main viewing deck. He’d built his ship with an entirely glass side so he could see out into the sky around them. It had taken him years to scavenge all of the panes curved at just the right angles but it was worth it. 

He gripped the railing tight and leaned out as far as he dared, wanting to forget he was trapped here inside all of this metal and junk while Molly was out there in the fading night sky, getting further and further away from him. Wanting to forget there would always be that distance between them. 

“Papa?”

Caleb pulled back, turning. His son stood in the doorway to his own bedroom, looking bedraggled and sleepy, rubbing a tiny fist against one eye. There were times when he looked more like Molly and times when he looked more like Caleb but right now he seemed to be the perfect blend of both of them, with his shock of rust red hair hiding his horns and purple skin and gentle glow. 

“Trinket…” Caleb smiled, “What are you doing up, kleines Sternenlicht?”

“Sun woke me up…” Trinket took padding little footsteps along the walkway towards him, across the patches where the metal didn’t quite match, where the colours and textures changed, “Is daddy gone back to the sky?”

“That’s right,” Caleb sighed, kneeling so Trinket could walk right into his arms, “He asked me to tell you goodbye and he’ll see us again very soon.”

“It never feels like very soon,” Trinket mumbled, voice still heavy and indistinct from sleep.

Caleb stifled a sigh as he caught Trinket and lifted him into a tight, protective embrace, “I know…”

Trinket blinked his large white eyes, looking over his papa’s shoulder into the brightening sky, watching all the colour bleed into it slowly. He didn’t like daytime. His daddy felt further away then. 

“It’s still too early to start work, kleines Sterenlicht,” Caleb hummed, rocking him, “And you’re going to be about as keen on going back to bed as I am. So why don’t we read a story?”

His armful of warm, sleep smelling toddler began to writhe excitedly at that, “Yes! Yes! Story!” 

Caleb chuckled, taking him over to the ship’s enormous bookshelves, “Which one? Aerospace Engineering: A History or Constellations of the Northern Hemisphere?” 

“Constellations!” Trinket leaned back excitedly so he could reach up and tap the spine of the book he wanted. 

Caleb obliged, sliding it out and carrying them over to the battered old wingback that slumped near the bookshelves. He settled into it, letting Trinket find a comfortable position on his knee before opening up the enormous tome. 

Already, Trinket’s face was a mask of delight, prodding one picture with a pudgy finger, “That one’s on daddy’s arm!”

“That’s right, it’s Serpens,” Caleb smiled proudly, starting to read the accompanying passage, “In many mythologies, snakes represent rebirth and resurrection, owing to their habit of shedding their skin…” 

Trinket leaned into his chest, enjoying the low rumbles that accompanied each word. Slowly, their patchwork airship filled with light and a new day began, softened by the comforting voice of his papa reading words as familiar as old friends. 

Trinket didn’t like mornings. But he loved his papa very very much. 

**Author's Note:**

> Please consider leaving a comment! Also, my amazing friend @minky-for-short did a fabulous commission for his AU which I will link below
> 
> https://mollymauk-teafleak.tumblr.com/post/613325916056223744/minky-for-short-a-commission-for-my-wonderful


End file.
